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March 09, 2013

It's March tomorrow today 9th so I really thought that I ought to wrap up the 2012 knits. Ha. I am so far behind! This post was made much harder by the fact that I wiped my computer (virus) in July and put all my pictures on Flickr! With no labels or organization! Ack!

The first one is either my first FO of 2012 or somewhere middle in the of 2012, depending on how you count FOs. Because I cast off on New Year's Day. But then there was a pull in the middle and I was afraid that I'd actually dropped a stitch. So I didn't want to block it and have it come undone. I dragged it around for over a year before I finally blocked it. And it was fine. Just a big yarn over. What a Relief.

I loved this scarf, but it's immediately started to curl in on itself so it's just a blue/tan tube most of the time.

I am going to try blocking it again (you know, in all my free time) and try a trick to see if I can get the lace to stay blocked. This is adapted from a pattern i saw in Australia for a shawl using lace weight yarn. I made it a scarf with fingering weight yarn so I truly don't know if it will work. I'll let you know.

The yarn is a wonderful yarn I picked up in Australia. Unfortunately, the only "chain" yarn store in Australia (Morris & Sons) sends all their yarn to China to be spun. I really would rather not buy it but admit to l let me desire for the color over run my principles. Maybe a scarf that rolls in on itself is my just desserts!

The second FO is a pair of socks. I really like them. I took a principle from the book, Knitting with Handpainted Yarn and found a pattern that works with such a random handpainted yarn.

But I hated 1) the idea of purling between the lace pattern and 2) hated the way it looked - like a psychodelic acid trip had thrown up on my yarn -

so I tore it out and started again and did stockinette between the lace panels. These are some of my first toe up socks for me!!!

You may remember this yarn from right after Sock Summit...

It is some of the wonderful yarn that Periwinkle Sheep makes. Aptly named "Tree Frog."

January 12, 2013

Hi there! Happy 2013! I know we're nearly at that time when it's too late to say happy new year, so I'll make sure I get that out of the way.

I have a bunch of FOs for 2012 that I must put together into posts and I promise I'll do it soon. But first is a post long overdue...

Nearly two years ago, Partner secretly went about an attempt to teach himself to knit. Not long before Sock Summit 2011, he admitted he needed help. And no wonder! A usually good LYS had set him up with a dark, fuzzy yarn for his first project. Ugh.

I came back from Sock Summit with yarn from Twisted PDX and Partner tried again and worked on a scarf which I just can't find a picture of...

Fresh excitement quickly produced another FO...

Then it was back to that blue yarn, and more success. The proud knitter...

There was a bit of a break with knitting for Partner while we were in Britain. After we returned, Partner had a very specific hat idea. In fact after he was done with the hat, he decided he wanted to make a set.

One for him and one for...

Wiggle!

That's right, we brought home one last, very special souvenir from our United Kingdom adventure, confirmed our final morning in London:

After weeks of quiet to make sure I was safely past the first weeks, we told my family and then slowly told friends. I'm at around 23 weeks and have moved into the definitely showing phase.

After weeks of waiting for some outward sign, now I feel like each day I look different!

Ironically Partner completed the first FO for Wiggle, but don't think Mama hasn't been working on some handknits too!

October 24, 2012

I've been keeping a bit of a secret. Back in the Spring, I applied for another job. During the summer, I was told I'd made the final cut. Then, while we were in England, I was given a final job offer. And then the kicker: they asked when in September I wanted to start. When we were still in England.

Did I mention the new job isn't in California?

So, when we arrived home I had less than three weeks to wrap up everything in California and move. Of course, in reality, there was no way to move everything - including 3 cats - in that amount of time. So, I've been hanging out on my own, while Partner has been back in California getting the house and cats ready. I've been starting a new job, finding a car, and finding a new place for us to live.

I flew back for our anniversary and am finally get a little bit of time to breathe.

Before I left, we spent two great days absorbing some of my favorite things about California.

Partner marked a running course...

The next day I swept a leg of the course.

The next day, a romantic (and goofy) evening out enjoying amazing Japanese food.

And then, the day after our dinner out it was off to our new home.... in Hawaii. The next adventure begins!

There has been intermittent knitting, including knitting up some fast gifts for the friends that have been putting me up until I find us a place to live. Dish clothes, of course!

Pattern: Each is linked aboveYarn: Sugar 'n Cream, 149 yards - they all ended up being kind of small, especially after a washModifications: on the log-cabin, I did more garter rows along the outside.Knitting yardage total 2012: 1881

July 31, 2012

I tried to get some better inserts for my running shoes, unsucessfully.

On this rainy day, I chose to take in the Guards Museum, a museum dedicated to the Guards for the Queen. I'll admit that there was so much information - I'm a reader in museums - that it was almost too much to take in! I know there are Irish and Scottish Guards and they guard the residences of the monarch. However, this museum covered all VC winners from all the guard regiments, the story of each regiment and stories from each regiment of their heros. Oh! And I saw the Queen's regimental jackets for Trooping the Color - she's diminuitive!

Then I walked back through St James park, snapped pics of the water fowl

And then I sat on a bench in Green Park and knit under overcast skies. I'm making good progress on Mythos. What are you knitting for the Ravellenic Games?

May 06, 2012

And this year I'm celebrating by giving away something each day here. I missed my blogiversary and thought that this would be a good way to say thank you to all of you. I appreciate you coming to my little corner of the web.

What are the gifts? Mostly knitting related, but not entirely. We're a bit cat obsessed and I'm a horrible displininarian. So, I try to keep them away from the yarn, but I can't promise, if you're really allergic.

First up, a loofah, the same pattern I used at Christmas. And a loofah wouldn't be nearly as nice without something to use with it. I discovered Spiced Vanilla scent from the Body Shop at Christmas this year and I'm in love.

An alternative use for the loofah would be as a cat bonnet, but Sasha didn't appear enthused.

So, just tell me - bath or shower? I'm a bath person every time. I've turned down apartments because they only had a shower. I love bubbles but mostly I just relaxing. Usually I read too.

April 25, 2012

Have I mentioned the sad fact that members of my family are allergic to wool? This signficantly impedes my ability to easily give knitted gifts.

I decided to make something special for my Mom's birthday and purchased some yarn at the Thanksgiving Eat.Sleep.Knit sale. At Christmas time, when we were discussing my knitted gifts plan, she mentioned that she would not be opposed to a cashmere/silk knitted item.

Well, who among us would be opposed, I ask you?

And ironically, what had I purchased to make my Mom's birthday present? Why some Sweet Georgia CashSilk. In my mother's favorite color. I could claim I bought fancy yarn because this is a significant birthday for my Mom, but I only realized that fact about 2 weeks before her birthday. I just love her (everyone together, "ahhhh").

And the yarn? It is a dream.

The sheen is amazing. The feel, divine.

When I become independently wealthy, I'll have worsted weight cashmere/silk dyed to order. And I'll knit hats out of it. In stockinette. Because I can. A girl can dream, can't she?

I decided that after I was finished with Christmas knitting, I would start and give myself plenty of time to knit. But that was before I met... The Neverending Mittens of Doom. Since they weren't done until February, I didn't cast on until late February. It's a formidable caston with 356 stitches.

When I went for my girls weekend, I took this project with me. And fortunately, had the good sense to set down this project before we were too far into the drinking game.

This is a good project because it's 18 hard, focused, very long rows of lace - with 156 nupps in those rows!

And then stockinette. There is still a bit of attention necessary on the stockinette, but smart use of stitch markers makes it quite easy. The construction of the stockinette section is ingenious, rocking back and forth from the center. It results in a large middle section,

but is almost circular, allowing it to easily drape your shoulders without coming off.

no, i cannot explain why I look like that in the picture. Partner says cute, I saw peculiar.

Because my mom's birthday was while I was gone for work, I knew I had to a firm deadline. In addition to my girl's weekend, I needed a 5 hour marathon knitting session one night. That was only necessary because I lost nearly 10 days of knitting because of my work schedule.

In all, it took 21 days, start to finish, including the 10 days I didn't knit a stitch! It really was an amazingly fast knit. And, I only used 320 yards, so while the yarn is expensive, you really can create a special gift for a special person with far less than one skein.

And my mother said, "It may be one of the nicest things I own." She has also told me of her different schemes for showing it off to other knitters.

April 18, 2012

Well, up front, I'm not hosting the giveaway, but two people are, for a good cause. Amanda and Jody, by the 20th and 21st respectively. So head over there for the chance at a neat shawl! Or don't and keep my odds high(er)! ha ha

So, on to my knitting. This is part of the continuing Generosity series. :)

When I left on my last business trip, I knew I wanted to knit something for a lady that would also be there. We're often the only women on the trip, so we've had some great times together - she introduced me to a traditional Japanese bath house years ago and this year we went to a Korean spa three days in a row!

I wasn't sure what I wanted to knit, but I knew that it needed to be kind of small. The mystery blue lace item that hasn't yet been blogged had me knitting right up until I left so I knew I'd be starting on the plane.

see... plane knitting!

I thought about hats, and had some great ideas, but kept returning to the idea she has curly hair and what a hat would do to her hair. And, since she lives in Canada, so I wanted it to be useful (warm!).

Right before I left, a designer re-wrote a pattern, and I thought, "That's it!"

I chose some yarn that I was gifted with earlier this year (another blog post that is yet-to-be-written). I tried to capture the subtlety of the yarn, but failed each time.

The pattern was more fiddly than I realized. Not hard, but a lot of turns and increases and decreases (which really, should have been obvious from the onset). When I was done with it, I wasn't happy because I didn't really like the yarn and it rolled on the edges and didn't look like leaves to me. But it was, in deed, a plane project (about 5-6 hours):

However, I forged ahead (because frankly, I didn't have a choice - the person that discovers yarn and pattern delivery at 30,000 feet will be a millionaire!) When I got to my hotel, I washed and rolled it in a towel to 'block' it.

And when I took final FO shots, was pleasantly surprised. At least with browns and neutrals, it didn't look too bad.

I worried - even on the plane - that I'd made the neck part too long. I followed the pattern, but kept thinking it should be shorter. Frankly, at this point, I have enough knitting experience that I should have trusted my instinct. My friend is Japanese and is petite. My instincts ended up being correct, which frustrated me later since it didn't hug her neck.

In the end, my friend seemed very happy with it. Her niece is actually a knitwear designer and she kept saying she was going to show it to her. Ack! I hope her niece isn't still wondering why I didn't make the neck shorter! haha!

Post wash (in the picture above), the subtle colors are easier to see. I like the flatter look as well, though I probably flattened out the leaves too much.

I liked the generosity themes involved - a free pattern, gifted yarn, and an FO as a gift to thank a friend.

Pattern: Anthro-inspired Scarflet (and ravelry)Yarn: Rowan Yorkshire Tweed Aran, 147 yardsModifications: none, though I should have made the neck smaller, for the recipientKnitting yardage total 2012: 713

March 13, 2012

Last December I was already thinking that I didn't want to buy any yarn in 2012. A good friend asked me about going to Stitches West. Obviously, I could demonstrate self restraint and just look and enjoy the weekend. However, being honest about my lack of self control, I just knew that wouldn't happen.

So, instead we decided to do our own knitting retreat. Her SO is out of town for awhile, so I left Partner and Boy #2 to their own devices (which involved sloppy joes, pizza and John Carter) and headed south for three days.

This yarn went to it's new home (because yarn is my kind of hostess gift!)

We are both nerds of extraordinary proportions. So, while we did some window shopping in her town, we spent most of the weekend knitting and watching Harry Potter. You can see our Saturday Evening of Indulgence:

I got a lot of knitting done, though I was slowed down by our nerd-tastic drinking game: a sip of wine anytime any character said "Snape" or "brilliant." Fortunately it was only for part of the 3rd movie and we aren't completely lacking in judgement, so it wasn't (quite) as bad as it sounds.

We started the visit at dinner so I cast on for a Beyond Puerperium for a little one that is arriving soon. By Sunday noon, when it was time to drive north, I had this:

What a great pattern! And I have a story about the pattern I'll tell later.

Also, in an amazing achievement, I took my Mom's birthday present south and one more row than you see here:

Became a sea anemone worn by my friend's kitty Merlin.

See all those stitch markers? 29 repeats. I haven't done nupps since my ill-fated adventure with Swallowtail. In two days, I did 145.

February 14, 2012

For this last business trip I had to take a five hour flight. Upon realizing that I really didn't have a chic hat to keep me warm, I decided to give myself a challenge to knit myself a hat during the five hour flight.

Here we go!

Hour 0 - the supplies:

Hour 1 - the brim.... hmmm... don't panic

Hour 2 - The second color, but not much progress:

Hour 3 - Now this is looking like progress!

Hour 3.5 - Ready to focus on the brim:

Some serious shell action:

Except, what's that?

Hour 3.5 + 2 minutes:

But all is not lost.

Hour 5 - An (improvised) hat!

And yes, I did get an awkward "what's the weird woman doing?" smile from the car rental lady.